Warm ’em up and belt it out
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We do a lot of stuff here at BSG, but some of the most popular are the singing competitions that come twice a year. It is that time again, and I’m so glad to announce the date has been set for the third singing competition. There will be categories for good and bad singers again, the prizes have been increased to $100(1st), $50(2nd), $25(3rd), and new prizes have been added as well. This is all made possible with the support of our amazing sponsors LeonianUniverse, A. T. Guys, and Elegant Insights. Read on to get all the info, and make sure to pick that perfect song to shoot your shot at winning some of the easiest money you’ve ever had the opportunity to grab.
Quick details
- Two categories: $100 max grand prize for the good category and $100 max for bad category.
- prizes: Scale depending on how many people join, $10 for each person who enters, with a max first place prize of $100 in each category.
- Second Place prizes of $50 in each category, and third place prize of $25 in each category; with two additional $15 prizes.
- Who can enter: anyone (not just blind singers)
- Genre: any genre at all.
- Judged by: Smoke & Hannibal on stream on December 3rd, 2022.
- accepting song submissions starting with the release of this blog post on November 2nd, 2022.
- Entries open until: Wednesday November 30 2022 at 11:59pm eastern.
- Type of music: New unreleased cover songs only.
- Everything else covered in the rules later on in this blog post.
The Sponsors Who Make This Competition Possible
This singing competition truly would not be happening without the support of the sponsors making it feasible. Not only are they sponsoring the competition, but they are sponsoring something done by BSG, and that is a big deal. Lets all make this worth it by supporting them and showing them it was worth their money and time.
Leonian Universe on Twitch.
One of the most down to earth and friendly guys out there, Leo is someone I always try and hang out with when he’s live. The phrase good people is used too commonly nowadays, but it was made for folks like him. He not only streams and hangs out, but he also dedicates time to making sure Yu-Gi-Oh is a playable title by all blind gamers to enjoy like their sighted counterparts.
Leo has been a long time BSG supporter, and he is now a singing competition sponsor as well. I’d love it if everyone could go to his channel and give him a follow and join me in his chat when he’s next live. He streams everything from Hearthstone to World of Warcraft to Yu-Gi-Oh, and new games upcoming since he now has a true gaming PC. Head on over to twitch.tv/LeonianUniverse and give him a follow.
Leo is also the one who has spearheaded the group to create the Yu-Gi-Oh access mod so blind players can play the massively popular trading card game the same as everyone else. It now includes tutorials and guides to help everyone get started. You can learn all about this and get going on your own Yu-Gi-Oh journey by joining the official Yu-Gi-Oh accesses discord. Leo is personally sponsoring both first place prizes, so show him some love and give him a follow and join the discord if you are like so many others who have always wanted to play Yu-Gi-Oh.
A. T. Guys, Your Access Technology Experts
True pioneers in the blind technology space A. T. guys is the only place you need for cool gadgets, accessories and more; all of which have been tested for blind users. The importance of this cannot be overlooked, as it provides a great service to all blind and visually impaired shoppers.
We’ve all been shopping on larger websites, going through every Q&A, reading every review, looking for an offhanded comment by a user hinting at possible accessibility in a product. Why do that when a better option is already out there? With A. T. guys they do all the work for you first hand, this way you know what you are getting is accessible and usable by all blind users. Whether it is power banks, bluetooth speakers, braille devices, orbit readers, headsets, or anything in between you can shop knowing what you buy will be something you can actually use.
A. T. Guys provide an invaluable resource to all blind and visually impaired people by taking the guess work out of shopping for technology. Head on over and browse the A. T. Guys site and shop with confidence. There’s a huge selection of everything you could ever need when it comes to all forms of technology.
Elegant Insights: Braille Jewelry
We all have relatives, friends, or partners who would appreciate the stunning work of Elegant Insights, and this holiday season is the perfect time to show them how much they are appreciated with some beautiful well crafted jewelry. The goal of Elegant Insights creator and owner Laura Legendary is to give everyone the ability to express themselves with confidence through fashionable jewelry, and this is done through meticulous attention to detail. No matter what you want to wear to express your true self, you will find it at Elegant Insights, and you can do it all while supporting a great blind entrepreneur.
The best thing about Elegant Insights Jewelry is the different collections and styles. Whether you need something for going out on the town, staying home, or just adding a casual flare you’ll find it here. Don’t just take my word for it though, head over to ElegantInsightsJewelry.com and see for yourself.
In even better news. If you like extremely affordable subscription boxes sent quarterly they have that covered too. Read all about their sparkle squad boxes. In related news I know what I’m getting my mom for Christmas thanks to Laura.
All jewelry is made in the USA by a team hand picked by Elegant Insights creator and owner Laura Legendary. Give this sponsor some love and shop with them this Holiday season at ElegantInsightsJewelry.com.
Listen To Us Talk About The Post
Hannibal had the idea to do an audio version of the post where we talk about the judging, scaling, and rules. You can find all this same info via text below, but since some folks prefer audio here it is. We also talk and make one another laugh for 20 minutes.
The History Of The Singing Competition
It was a random idea we had, an idea born from our enjoyment of bad singers making covers we enjoyed for all the wrong reasons. An idea that led to the first singing competition, a testing of what we thought was a grand idea. The first singing competition was an overwhelming success, and we were then off and running with something that started as a little thought, and transformed into something more with so much built in potential.
Directly after the first was concluded it was game on for the second comp. With suggestions from the community and much pondering we split the second singing competition into two categories for good and bad with an unlocking system to boost the prizes and participation. these changes were received very well, and now we’re adding to those changes as part of our constant quest to make everything we do bigger and better.
In the third singing competition there’s more prizes, more special treats, and we are once again improving on what was already something great. These events are something so many people look forward to, and we’ve only had two so far. The third is going to build on the improvements from the first and second. We can’t wait to get to December 3rd and kick it all off with a bang.
Listen to the first singing competition here.
Listen to the second singing competition here.
How We Judge The Competition
One thing people accuse me and Hannibal of being is unique, and that is reflected in the singing competition. Everyone loves the first few episodes of American idol where the bad singers come in with all the confidence in the world and assault the judges ears. It isn’t the bad singing alone that makes it such a viewing experience though. The surprise vocal performances where someone showcases their true talent is what holds it all together and makes it that rare experience. These two juxtapose and make each performance even stronger when they are together. Well that’s what this singing competition is all about. You can have the voice of an angel, make tears come to our eyes, and you can win in the good category. On the other hand you can have the voice of the twice removed and banished second cousin of Boyz To Men, and we’ll appreciate you just as much in the bad category.
This competition is both for those who sound like a literal angel from heaven, and for those who sound like a fisher price piano running out of batteries. If you are either one of these you can win $100 because this competition is made just for you. The best of the best and the best of the worst are welcome because we appreciate them the same, and we are here to give them money for it.
We are looking for that performance that makes us feel something. It isn’t about who can belt out the loudest, or sing the strongest. We want to feel something, to feel what music is all about…that and also to giggle when someone knocks our panties off in the bad category. We don’t take ourselves too serious, we won’t be holding up virtual numbers to score people. No matter what it all comes down to the same result, who is the best or worst wins, and that’s what we are looking for. This isn’t the Voice, this is BSG and we enjoy having some fun, some drinks, and appreciating music together.
So warm up them cords and hit us in our feels. We aren’t here to judge you on your technical perfections, but on if you can sing and impress us. Everyone knows what a good singer sounds like and what a bad singer sounds like. There is no need to cloud it in mysticism, lets keep it simple. This was the judging criteria for the first two competitions, and it worked to perfection.
The other thing we won’t be changing about our judging system is hearing everything for the very first time on stream. This is important to keeping the judging true and fair, that and it is so much more fun when we are live. Everything we say is our first time reaction the same as everyone else listening to the stream. We have a dedicated listener who checks to make sure everything plays properly, and neither myself or Hannibal hear a single second of any song until we are live.
Enough damn words! We are ready, excited, and impatient to hear all the beautiful and horrible songs people submit for the third. If you are thinking of it…stop thinking and start doing.
Note: clarification that bad does not mean bad recording quality, intentionally singing bad, or doing a weird cover. It is for people who cannot sing but who are singing with confidence they should not have. it is for those of us who are simply bad at singing, but who are singing as if we are actually great and people know we are great…but are not at all.
The Two Categories & How The Prize Scales
As mentioned above there is a good and bad category,and for each category the first place prize is $100. In the good category there needs to be a minimum of 5 entries, and in the bad competition there needs to be a minimum of 3 entries for the category to happen. That’s 5 in good and 3 in bad.
For every person who enters the pot goes up by $10,and it caps out at $100 for first place. So if there are 5 entries in the good category, first place gets $50, if there are ten or more entries first place gets $100. We had well over 10 for the first and second competition, so this shouldn’t be a hard goal to reach. The same will happen for the bad category, only the minimum number of required entries is only 3. This is because we had less bad entries in both the first and second competition, but we are hoping for many more in this one.
In addition to the scaling of the first place prize, there will be second and third place cash prizes given out as well, but only if we get enough entries for it to make sense. If there are 7 entries in the good category there will be a first and second place, if there are 10 or more then we’ll add third place as well. In the bad category if there are six entries we’ll add a second place prize, and if there are 8 entries we’ll add a third place to the category.
This means the more people you can get to enter the better, since for each person the prize pool goes up. Honestly get everyone to join, the more the better. In the past even those who didn’t win were some of the favorites by myself and Hannibal and everyone listening, and because of that we had to add in a new category.
In the third singing competition we are going to have Smoke’s Prize and Hannibal’s Prize. This is simple, but also very wide open for anyone to win. This could go to anyone who impresses us but didn’t win, hits on a lot of BSG memes but doesn’t win, or anything else. We felt we had to do this after some of the amazing performances in the last competition like that by Blurry Sito AKA Surfer Boy 69. There were people who didn’t win, but deserved something still, and because of that we felt the only way to deal with this injustice was to add in these two wildcard prizes.
The max prize pool total is $380, and I’d like to give it all away, so share this out and talk all your good and bad singing friends to enter into the competition. Hound them if necessary, we want everyone to join and to amaze us either way.
Special Surprises & Pick Our Cover Song
From the start we decided it wouldn’t be fair if we asked people to do something we wouldn’t do ourselves, and because of that me and Hannibal are on our way to an album of horrible duets. We have duetted two Shakira covers so far, and they have been gloriously horrible in all the wrong ways. We even have a band name…Whiskey Nipples & Pocket Cheese…and honestly that is one hell of a name. For our next cover we are going to allow people to choose what we sing, and our choices are glorious. We each contributed five songs to the list, and people get to choose what song we have to cover. You can read all about how this works in this blog post about our cover song.
In addition to me and Hannibal singing our hearts out, we have also convinced the great and powerful Sarah Joyce Ocampo to sing a song with us, and let me tell you…it is going to be something, something to break the internet. It will be a triet(a duet with 3 people)…if that isn’t a word it will be after we are done with this song.
There may even be some special songs from past winners who cannot participate, but who will be showcasing their talents again for everyone’s enjoyment. This isn’t locked in, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make this a thing.
This is more than just a singing competition, it is a twice yearly event where we all get together and appreciate all forms of music and musical talents. Me and Hannibal can’t sing, but we have fun making music and sharing it with everyone so they can laugh, because without laughter what is the point of anything. We’ll make you feel something, even if it is all the wrong things.
The Rules & How To Enter
If you submit your song then you are giving me permission to make it downloadable from BSG, or streamable via a link you provide after the stream. So many people wanted to download music from stream 1, but I didn’t get prior permission.
Grand prize in the good category: Between $50 and $100 prize for first place in the good singing category.
Grand prize in the bad category: Between $30 and $100 prize to first place in the bad singing category.
In the good category: with 7 submissions the second place prize of $50 is unlocked. With ten or more submissions a third place prize of $25 is unlocked.
In the bad category: with 6 submissions the second place prize of $50 is unlocked. With 8 or more submissions a third place prize of $25 is unlocked.
We will need both a minimum of five good submissions and 3 bad submissions for the stream to be scheduled, if we don’t get 5 and 3 there will be no stream or competition. Last stream we had 27. Lets have over 30 this time!
The person submitting classifies their song as a good cover, or a bad cover. This way we know how to listen to and judge the song.
Submissions are open as of the publishing of this blog post. We will stop accepting Submissions at 11:59pm eastern on November 30, 2022.
The two winners from the previous competition cannot enter or sing on anyone’s song as a guest, Sorry Sophie and Buddah.
Anyone can enter, blind, sighted, and even individuals associated with our great sponsors: Leonian Universe, A. T. Guys, and Elegant Insights.
Only cover songs: This is so we can relate to the song, and so we have a base to go off of. No originals.
No duets, only solo performances, (including guest lines). This is due to the challenge of judging two singers when they are put up against solo singers.
The song has to be a recording just for this competition, not a previously released cover song.
Don’t put aggressive effects on your voice. Less is always better. We want singing, not covering up the singing. subtle effects are fine, but just don’t get carried away please.
A hard limit of 6 minutes maximum length on each song: This is so we don’t have a 15 minute song to take up all the length of the stream.
This is about enjoying people’s covers and having fun, so we won’t be making fun of the submissions flagged as good.
amine will listen to the song to make sure it is playable, so we can truly listen to each song for the first time on stream.
You “may” get bonus points for the goddess Shakira, we love Shakira. Don’t judge us. Really this just means we want at least one someone to sing Shakira each competition. Will it be you? (disclaimer: there are actually no points)
If you can’t mix your song on your own, send both the musical backing track and the vocal track to me. I will then pass it along to Quacker (@hibarra_music) who has agreed to mix for people again, then he’ll pass the finished track along to me.
After submissions are closed I’ll randomize the order of songs using random.org, and publish the order in a blog post the week of the live stream.
submission is done by sending a downloadable link to smoke. this could be through Dropbox, Google Drive, or any other file sharing website.
name the file like this: Category-YourPublicName-OriginalSongTitle-OriginalArtist.mp3. for example bad-CaptainHannibal-HipsDontLie-Shakira.mp3, or Good-SarahJoyceOcampo-Empire-Shakira.mp3, or Bad-FleshyImpactDrills-Thriller-MichaelJackson.mp3.
The person singing the song has to be the one submitting it, you can’t have a third party submit your song for you.
Submit your song by one of the below ways:
DM the link to @bsg_blog on Twitter
Join the BSG discord and DM Smoke#2503
Send it via email to smoke-j@blackscreengaming.com
If you win you cannot enter into the next singing competition. This barring on entering only lasts for 1 competition. We have to give everyone a chance.
In conclusion
We are looking to make this not only a singing competition, but a twice yearly event that everyone looks forward to and remembers fondly. No matter if you think you are going to win or not, enter the competition and let’s all have fun together. This is about rewarding the best and worst singers yes, but also more than that. It is a time when we can all get together, and just have fun for the sake of fun.
Record yourself singing your favorite song, or a song you picked with calculation to win. It doesn’t matter, what matters is you sing into a microphone and enter into the competition! Let’s have 50 people join and make this third singing competition crazy! Don’t just enter, talk all your friends and your grandma into entering. A note on that, if someone gets their grandma to enter we may need a new category for the fourth singing comp.
Of course We need everyone to show some love to our sponsors. We cannot thank them enough for supporting the prizes for this competition, and everyone needs to make sure to support them for supporting us.
Leonian Universe on Twitch.
Start your Yu-Gi-Oh journey by joining the Yu-Gi-Oh access discord.
A. T. Guys, Your Access Technology Experts
Elegant Insights: Braille Jewelry
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